Thursday, February 12, 2009

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the eretz. 2 Now the eretz was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.

The lord introduces the concept of a "Day" here, or rather ... He gave the light a name, but the human concept of a day is no where to be found ... yet. This "Day" must be different in God's eyes ... it is used as a proper name. Is that how you normally use the word "Day"?

6 God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it was so. 8 God called the expanse sky. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Again, another "day" according to God, not according to man.

9 God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear," and it was so. 10 God called the dry land Eretz, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. God saw that it was good. 11 God said, "Let the eretz put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the eretz," and it was so. 12 The eretz brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

OK, now this is the third "day", and not only is man's concept of a day nonexistant, but humans are nowhere to be found.

14 God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the eretz," and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the eretz, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Still no humans yet, but I've emphasized that the Lord at this point has finally provided the sun and the moon ... for someone to have "signs, and for seasons, and for days and years".

So at this point, with no humans around to interpret these signs, seasons, days, and years ... it may be a while before humans figure out what a "day" means to the Lord. Even now I wonder how seriously people have considered the idea that ...

one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. - 2 Peter 3:8

Just because scientists have a made a few "rigorous" definitions for the word "day", does not mean that the common meaning for the word "day", and the Lord's meaning for the word must to be one and the same meaning as most people assume. Not to mention the fact that still folks cannot agree as to what a day actually is.

Tom emailed and replied, "I am just naive enough to think that God could undo everything in a split second, and redo everything in polka dots in another without us ever noticing or thinking twice about it."